DOWD CONSTRUCTION AND DESIGN - Key Persons
In staying in business for over 31 years Gary has always adhered to the highest standards of construction quality, practiced business fairly, maintained an open mind to new techniques, designs and technologies, while successfully building exciting and challenging projects. Originally, Gary hails from San Francisco, but grew up mostly in the sunny dry Southwest. He came to Northern California in the early 1970's for its beauty and active lifestyle. Gary joined the Carpenters Union #2035, learning the trades through their apprenticeship program from 1975 to 1979. This launched a successful career as a lead carpenter and foreman on several of the major commercial projects in Tahoe at the time, including: The Squaw Valley Lodge, Squaw Tahoe Condo's, Still Water Cove, and The Tahoe Boat Works. In 1981 Gary became a licensed General Contractor and launched his personal business focusing on new construction and remodeling of high end residential homes. Gary's work has taken him too many places and through several genres of construction. He has built modern dwellings perched on the hillsides of Los Angele's, remodeled multifamily dwellings in the Bay area, completed commercial work in the Sierra Foothills, built Heavy Timber Mountain homes in Tahoe, and even a windsurf shack along the Columbia River. Gary has always preferred to be a craftsman on the site, and still today runs his business at night from his home office, but by day is hands-on, at the site of the current Dowd Construction project. He believes that working with his bags on keeps him physically healthy, and still enjoys the mental challenges required to solve the various problems projects present. When not running his own business, Gary enjoys the beauty of the Sierra Foothills with his family. In the future Gary hopes to continue to build custom homes and would like to especially build another house in the Mountain Tahoe Timber style.
Justin began his career in building at the young age of thirteen as a laborer and apprentice working on a garage in Truckee, California. Continuing to grow Justin worked summers between school and college learning the to build in the traditional manner. After receiving a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Oregon, he teamed up with his Dad (Gary Dowd) completing a custom house, designing and building the Rough and Ready custom home and completing the three phase remodel of the Donner Lake Inn. Justin enjoyed the challenge and rewards of design building, which inspired a return to school, where by after three years of intense study, Justin earned a Master Degree in Architecture from Virginia Tech. Following school Justin worked in the office of a respectable design/build company in Seattle, Washington completing work on tenant improvement projects and high end modern residences. Moving on from the office environment Justin returned to the field as a foreman for another high end Seattle builder completing several custom projects. He has returned to Grass Valley in order to once again team up with Gary Dowd, enabling Dowd Construction to be a full service design+build company. Justin has a passion for bettering the build environment and is always looking to improve his building skill and lore. He has experience in timber frame, strawbale construction, light steel frame, traditional platform framing, SIP panels, and cabinetry. In terms of design his experience ranges from contemporary, through modernism to the Tahoe craft tradition all the while finding fulfillment in building traditions both theoretical and practical. He is equally comfortable working with a free hand sketch, in autocad, sketch-up and or with his hands. Outside of work he enjoys playing in the outdoors by mountain biking, skiing and taking his sailboat out to the lake. Justin has 4 simple career goals, design and build: a really good school, a really good chapel, a really good museum, and a really good house.